MEETING DATE:
Friday, September 9, 2011
PRESENT: Michael D’Souza (President); Tony Germin (Vice President); David Bongard (Recording Secretary); Corey Martin (Treasurer); Rob Krbavac (Director-Communications) (left at 11:30); Edwin Terry (Director-Diversity); Claryse Boulineau (Director-SRC); Glen Guerin (Director-Events and Care); Mac Skelton (Director-Health and Safety); Rob Barlow (Chief Steward); Naomi Robinson (Chief Steward);
Absent: Alice Hopton (Director-New Members); Beverly Brown (Director-Mobilization and Education); Ellen Armstrong (Chief Steward)
Adopt agenda
MOVED BY: Rob Barlow
SECONDED BY: Tony Germin
MOTION: Adopt Agenda
PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Minutes of Previous Meeting
MOVED BY: Glen Guerin
SECONDED BY: David Bongard
MOTION: Approve Minutes of Previous Meeting
PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Homolgate email vote of Monday, June 27 and Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Resolution: The Toronto LEC donate $1,000 to the CBC Staff Association Picnic.
MOVED BY: Glen Guerin
SECONDED BY: Claryse Boulineau
MOTION: The Toronto LEC donate $1,000 to the CBC Staff Association Picnic
PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
President’s Report: Michael D’Souza
a) Local Joint Committee:
Report of Thursday, August 18 meeting. Attached.
b) Local Grievance Committee: Meeting of Thursday, September 8, 2011
Michael reported that the Local Grievance has closed two Grievances. One concerns an ENG editor working as an editor/producer with little or no supervision. This person has now been reclassified as a Band 10 video-editor. The other case concerned an Associate Director working as an Associate Producer. This person is now being reclassified as an Associate Producer.
One outstanding grievance about a temp employee being made permanent staff is being reviewed by the Temp Committee.
The Grievance also considered a new Grievance concerning the CBC refusing to meet with an officer of the Union. This matter is pending.
CMG-CBC Joint Pay Equity Committee: Meeting of Friday, August 26, 2011
Michael reported that this CBC Branch Joint Committee is concerned with gender-based wage discrimination. He reported that the committee has made progress with several members receiving adjustments in the total compensation packages.
Local General Membership Meeting: The LEC discussed several options for holding another Local General Membership meeting. It agreed that another all-day rolling meeting is the best way to be available to the largest number of members because operations at the Broadcasting Centre run around the clock. The LEC agreed to hold a General Meeting on Thursday, November 3 from 10:00 in the morning to 7:00 in the evening. All members of the LEC will be released to participate in this meeting. In order to fund the General meeting the LEC also agreed to cancel it’s regular meeting of Friday, October 14.
MOVED BY: Naomi Robinson
SECONDED BY: David Bongard
MOTION: The Toronto LEC cancel it’s meeting of Friday, October 14
PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
MOVED BY: Naomi Robinson
SECONDED BY: Glen Guerin
MOTION: The Toronto LEC hold a General Meeting on Thursday November 3, 2011 from 10:00 am to 7:00 p.m.
PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Local General Membership Meetings and CMG Bylaws: The bylaws require LECs to hold four general meetings a year. The size of the Toronto location makes this impossible. The Toronto LEC will seek an amendment to the CMG bylaws reducing the General Meetings to a minimum of one meeting a year.
Election preparations: The LEC discussed the Toronto Location election which must be held by February 28. Michael is to contact the current members of the Election Committee about their continued participation on the committee.
Lunch: The LEC broke for lunch from 11:30 am to 1:00 p.m.
Planning for federal budget impact on CBC: Karen Wirsig, the CMG`s Communication Coordinator reminded the LEC that the Federal Government has asked the CBC, along with other federally funded bodies, to look for cuts of five to ten per cent. The LEC discussed how to address this issue and agreed to participate in a brainstorming session planned for Sunday, September 25.
Treasurer’s Report – Treasurer Corey Martin reported that the LEC has a bank balance of $6,759. He also presented a detailed financial statement from January 1 through to September 8, 2011. He advised the executive that two quarterly payments of honoraria to the executive have yet to be made. The LEC also discussed paying its dues to the local Labour Council. The formula is for the payment is based on the number of members with a deduction, in the CMG’s case, for members who are journalists. The LEC will ask the national CMG to do the calculations and remit the payment to the Labour Council.
General Committee Reviews: Naomi Robinson invited further comments on her draft of the review of the LEC committees. The LEC had discussed this report at its previous meeting. The proposal includes a review of the committee structures and plans to introduce new activists to the union’s committee process. Under consideration is the length of the terms of the committee. The LEC agreed to consider the matter with schedule of approving a final policy at its November meeting.
SRC Report: Claryse Boulineau reported on continuing problems at the CBC’s SRC services in Toronto. Many of these problems are rooted in a lack of trust between the membership and management. The tensions have resulted in ugly incidents. Tony Germin reported that he is working with the SRC director to resolve problems.
Diversity: The Director for Diversity Edwin Terry reported on working with members to resolve personal issues. The LEC also agreed to proceed with planning the next Black History Month event in February 2012. This issue was discussed by the Local Joint Committee.
Events:
Labour Day Parade: The Events director Glen Guerin reported that about 75 people participated in the CMG portion of the Toronto Labour Day Parade. About 25,000 labour activists marched in the Parade on Monday, September 5. The LEC also discussed contributing towards the CMG costs of participating in the parade.
MOVED BY: Glen Guerin
SECONDED BY: Mac Skelton
MOTION: The Toronto LEC contribute $1,000 towards the CMG National office costs of participating in the Labour Day Parade.
PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Communications: The CMG national office is redesigning the union’s main web site. This redesign will include space for location units like Toronto with simple tools to update postings. The LEC operates its own website and Treasurer Corey Martin reported that hosting this site is very inexpensive. He said that the cost of hosting the site independently should not be a major consideration when deciding on the future of the Toronto web presence, cmgtoronto.ca. David Bongard reported that the Toronto site gets 800 to 1,200 discrete visits a month and added that this is a sign of the success of the site. The LEC agreed to further discuss the matter at its next meeting in November.
Health and Safety:
Fire: Director of Health and Safety Mac Skelton reported on the first in the Broadcasting Centre on Wednesday, September 7. He said that this issue is still being investigated. The fire alarm was not activated in the incident on the Ninth Floor of the Broadcasting. A smouldering rag filled a room with smoke. The alarms are triggered by heat and not smoke. And the employees who discovered the fire did not pull the alarm. Mac Skelton reported that issues being considered include changes to the alarm system with the addition of smoke detectors. Also under review is the requirement that all employees watch the fire safety video.
Visitors Badges: Mac Skelton also reported on a review of how visitors to the Broadcasting Centre are tracked. He has suggested a change in the system of sticky labels now used so three colours would be used. One colour for visitors, such as guests, who must be escorted at all time; one colour for employees who have forgotten their id; and a third colour for contractors who are going to be around the building for many hours or days.
Bike parking: The CBC has provided 138 parking spaces for bicycles at the Broadcasting Centre. Bikes must be walked up and down the ramp. One of the conditions of this space has been that a motorized vehicle and a bicycle wont use the exit ramp at the same time. Tony Germin reported that this requirement is not being met because in many cases the operators of motorized vehicles don’t know there’s a bike on the ram until the vehicles is on the ramp.
Scent-free workplace: The Health and Safety committee is still grappling with issues of strong perfumes and scents in the workplace. Mac Skelton explained that the CBC has guidelines and not policies. Strong scents are causing serious problems for one employee in particular. This employee is now filing separate reports under Health and Safety regulations every time he encounters problem odours.
Adjournment: Next meeting Saturday, November 12 at 9:30 a.m.
MOTION: To adjourn
MOVED BY: David Bongard
SECONDED BY: Corey Martin
PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Toronto Local Joint Committee: Thursday, August 18, 2011
Report prepared by:
Michael D’Souza, President, Toronto Location Unit
CBC Branch, Canadian Media Guild
NOTE: These are not minutes of the meeting.
Participants:
CMG: Michael D`Souza, Tony Germin, Claryse Boulineau, Lou Debellis, Bruce May, Jean Broughton.
CBC Management: Peter Van Oordt, Amy Shnier, Melissa Mercer, Ruthie Calarco, Katherine (Kasia) Ilczynski
The Toronto Local Joint Committee held its third meeting for the year in mid August. It talked about a wide variety of issues concerning the Toronto CMG members ranging from private spaces for employees to technical training and appraisal to worries about privacy when using services like HR@Myfingertips.
Employee Private Room
Some employees had approached the union about using a space for private prayers. One solution proffered by the CBC was the use of one of the private rooms on the second floor of the Broadcasting Centre. This didn’t quite work out because the employees couldn’t reserve it and that meant it was sometimes in use when they needed it for their services. Also prayers were sometimes interrupted by a telephone. Since then the employees have found alternative space that fits their needs and it’s closer to their workspace.
Review of Self Assigned staff
The union and management is currently reviewing members who are considered self-assigned. Much of this review has been completed and employees who were improperly slotted as self-assigned are being reassigned as weekly assigned and daily assigned, The review is now covering the news service.
Black History Month celebration
The union and management have been co-operating on celebrating Black History Month in the Atrium for some years now but that event didn’t happen this year. Management, at the Local Joint Committee explained that the CBC has decided to hold a Diversity event rather that events celebrating individual communities. That meant the union had to run the 2011 event by itself. A series of misunderstandings and miscommunications led to the union not getting access to the Atrium where the event is usually held.
At the local joint meeting the two sides agreed to work together to make the new Diversity Event a success. They also agreed that this did not preclude the union from organizing events like the Black History Month celebration. The two sides committed to better and direct communications to make these events happen.
Development for Technical Maintenance staff
A committee of management and the unions, all the unions at the CBC, are working on updating the Broadcast Technology Exams. These exams are used to classify technicians as A, B and C with C being the highest grade. Management reported that the A exam is now available electronically and the B exam will be available electronically in September. Migrating the C exam from paper to electronic is a work in progress.
The union also had questions about how members can progress from one classification to another.
Engineering and Wiring Staff
The electronic nature of the CBC means that the Broadcasting Centre is constantly being rewired as technology changes and studios move. This means there are many technicians rewiring the building and almost all of them are outside contractors. Management explained that this work is connected to specific projects which could run for a few months but, from the union’s perspective, these projects seem to run into one another. That means these contractors could work solely for the CBC for years.
Management informed the union that it has now hired two full-time staff wirers or Supervising Technical Installers, Those are Band Five jobs under the Collective agreement. This is a good thing but it still leaves and outstanding issue about the other people laying wires in the building. A key question is whether these people are doing work that should be done by members of the union. Both sides agreed to review the work to determine if it is within the jurisdiction of the union. Management will also review the projects to see if there are breaks between the jobs or if the contractors are indeed here, contiguously, for years.
Changes to the Job Board
A few months ago the Corporation made changes to the Job Board. Now our members have to sign on, i.e. identify themselves, when checking on jobs. Many members have complained that this is an invasion privacy. It is also discouraging our members from exploring other opportunities. Members are concerned that management is tracking their exploration, or even curiosity, about other jobs and that this interest may be misinterpreted by supervisors. What is particularly irksome is the CBC job board does not require such a sign in and in most cases the same jobs appear on both boards.
Management, at the Local Joint meeting, explained that the new logging in requirement was introduced after the internal job board was hacked. After this intrusion details that were only available to employees of the CBC were posted on public job sites. Management also reassured the union that the employees access to the job board was not being monitored and was not available to supervisors.
Both sides agreed that better communication about the reasons for requiring employees to sign in would have allayed fears and even garnered employee support. Both sides also agreed that sign in procedure should continue to ensure that CMG members get full access to the opportunities within the corporation.
Senior managers and union leaders are still addressing this issue and so there will likely be more on the matter in the future.
Security and confidentiality of personal information when using computers in the newsroom
The workstations in the newsroom at the Broadcasting Centre are locked down. Employees there can’t do simple things like change the home page on the web browser. This is posited as a security requirement because newsroom computers also access the Corporations video databases, that is all the video the CBC gathers. for use in DTV.
This lockdown also means that members cannot clear out personal information that may be stored on the computer. This would happen when they visit Hr@Myfingertips to review items such as compensation, leave etc. Computers store much of such information in the cache. In fact, as a member pointed out, Hr@Myfingertips directs users to clear the cache on the computer. You can’t do this in the Toronto newsroom.
Management said it will investigate the issue. The union has suggested that purging the cache should be an automatic routine whenever Hr@Myfingertips is shut down.
Ad Rem review
The Corporation, for some time now, has been reviewing Ad Rems, that’s Additional Remuneration. It’s payment usually given to employees above their base pay. There are many reasons they get this money. It could be for special skills, expertise they bring to the table or experience. Management explained that these payments are now being reviewed to make sure that they should still be paid and the amounts are appropriate.
But what seems to have happened in at least one case brought to the union’s attention is that the ad rem has been changed to an overtime buyout. This is a payment an employee gets and usually doesn’t charge for overtime. But ad rems and OT buyouts are different and that conversion of one to the other is improper.
Management agreed to review the issue and provide the union with a list of the ad rem reviews underway and the templates being used to draft letters sent to employees when ad rems are reviewed.. This will help the union answer questions members may raise and seek solutions when there are problems.
Annual Vacation and Additional Vacation
This is an issue that affects members who started at the CBC in contracts and not staff positions. Under the Collective Agreement they have the right to move to staff positions after they’ve been at the CBC for sometime. In many cases the contract they worked under gave them additional annual vacation for a variety of reasons. So when they convert to staff they are entitled to more annual vacation than they would get under the Collective Agreement. It’s been brought to the union’s attention that in some cases this extra Annual Vacation is being changed to Additional Vacation and members are being asked to sign annual contracts covering this time off. That is a problem because the contract for the extra time off means it can be taken away from you. Management agreed to review this practice. ( I have subsequently been informed that senior management has advised that this practice will stop and employees should not sign such letters.)
The Local Joint Committee adjourned at about 3:15 and agreed to meet again on Thursday, October 27, 2011.